How Starbucks shamed you into speaking its language

Ever slipped up and ordered a “grande” anything at an indie coffee shop? Sometimes your barista will just go with it. Sometimes they’ll give you a dirty look. And sometimes they’ll point out that the Starbucks is just down the street.

Or, have you ever ordered a “16-ounce” something at Starbucks? You’ll be politely corrected — sometimes loudly — when your cashier delivers your order to the bar.

More evidence that Starbucks successfully changed the way we think and talk about coffee.

Anne Morriss, author of “Uncommon Service: How to Win by Putting Customers at the Core of Your Business,” recently told the Harvard Review that Starbucks is a role model for companies looking to streamline their customer-service operations.

In order to make sure everyone orders using the same vernacular — think “double-tall whatchamacallit” — Starbucks used the oldest tricks in the book: peer pressure and social shame.

“We all have been very well trained, it turns out,” Morriss said. “When we show up in line, if we order it incorrectly, then the correct version is shouted out for the whole store to hear.”

She added: “Really what’s motivating it is we don’t like to be corrected in public.”

She says to treat customers like untrained, unpaid employees — and that they need to be managed and educated accordingly.